Causes: Children & Youth, Education, Educational Services, Youth Development Programs

Mission: To ignite children's passion for learning and foster cooperation, respect, and responsibility through hands-on discovery in the outdoor classroom.

Programs: Great basin outdoor school programs immerse students in multi-day overnight ecology camps in natural settings on nevadas shoreline of lake tahoe. Activities meet state curriculum standards in many subjects, especially science. Students hike, snowshoe, learn ecology with hands-on activities, and do environmental projects to help keep lake tahoe blue and reduce fire danger in the tahoe basin. Activities are designed for classes of primarily fifth and sixth-grade students and their teachers and young adult volunteers. The program seeks to give the students a better understanding of our natural world and to inspire them to conserve the resources found within it, while increasing their confidence and developing more respect for themselves and each other through team-building activites. Grants and individual support keep the program affordable and provide fee reductions and scholarships for children in need. During the year, 1,494 students, 10 youth cabin leaders, 194 adult cabin leaders, and 62 teachers attended, for a total of 1,500.54.3% of public school students living in poverty were served.